Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Blood Angels(7E)

Why Play Blood Angels (AKA the red ones)

• People are jealous of your Vampire-Jesus self.
• Haters gonna Hate.
• Some of the best close-combat units in the game.
• Stormravens that will take your superior dreadnoughts and death company right down your enemy's throat in zero - tabled in record speed.
• SPESS VAMPIRES
• You like to make Khorne players jealous of all the blood you spill.
• True to the beliefs of Orks, your red ones DO go faster.

The new 7th edition codex has dropped, and it seems like there were a lot of nerfs to the book, like the Grey Knights since this was also a Ward 'dex. Some of the changes are as follow:

• Assault Marines now are Fast Attack choices, which means you need to go Unbound if you wish to have an army of them (or take the Flesh Tearers Strike Force Detachment with 6 Fast Attack slots).
• In order to keep in line with the Vanilla 'dex and Chapter Tactics, the Red Thirst is now just condensed into army-wide Furious Charge. (This is actually better than the old rule.)
• Sanguinary Guards got cheaper and can take more in a unit, to a max of 10.
• Death Company and the Death Company Dreadnought are now Elite, as are the Vanguard Vets. Again, very lovely GW. (Not)
• Dante and Seth now LoW.
• Only Rhinos, Razorbacks and Baal Predators have Fast stock. The rest of them (Predators, Vindicators, and Whirlwinds) must buy it for 10 points.
• Tactical Squads now have Grav-guns and Heavy Flamers. Grav being awesome while the Flamer is goddamn awesome.
  • Also, their new box set is pretty sweet, albeit a bit more expensive than Vanilla. Your sarges can now wear Nipple Armor.

Don't compare our new book to the Space Wolves codex, it'll just piss you off.

Army-Wide Special Rules

Warlord Traits

1. Red Rampage: - Warlord gains the Rampage USR. Both versions of Tycho and Seth have this.
2. Speed of the Primarch: - Warlord gains +1I, which stacks nicely with the special Formation and FOC. Corbulo has this.
3. Artisan of War: - One of the Warlord's weapons gains the Master-Crafted USR. Does NOT apply to Relics of Baal.
4. Soulwarden: - Warlord gains the Adamantium Will USR. Mephiston and Astorath have this, which makes one of them a Denying machine.
5. Descent of Angels: - Warlord and all jump infantry & skimmers in the detachment gains the old 1d6" scatter rule, which everyone will miss. In addition; jump, flyer & skimmer units may reroll failed reserves, a very very powerful trait. Dante has this.
6. Heroic Bearing: - Warlord grants Fearless to all units within 12" (yes, ALL friendly units from "armies of the Imperium"). Sanguinor has this. As usual, nice for when things go tits-up too soon.

Fighter Aces

In Skies of Death, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to pay 35 points for one of 3 special traits for any Flyer or FMC (FGC is still debatable).

1. Angel of Vengeance - +1 BS. Pretty nice.
2. Grace of Angels - Ace can now pivot up to 180 before moving, giving them a way to actually back off and go around something if they want.
3. Wrath of Sanguinius - All fellow Blood Angels within 12" of the flier can get one turn with Preferred Enemy. Blast shit off the map, charge with some big mob of DC, it's just gonna be based on how your flyer's gonna run.

Baal Strike Force Detachment

The Blood Angels' codex-exclusive formation requires 1 HQ 1 Elite and 2 Troops, but it gives you an extra elite slot to use alongside the basic CAD. Aside from the mandatory Warlord Trait re-roll, you also gain +1 Initiative on the charge for all models in the army as long as there are no Disorganized Charges. This is an amazing benefit for an assault-focused army. While having army-wide +1 initiative is awesome, you lose objective secured but you chose Blood Angels for choppy space marines. The Baal Strike Force detachment allows your army to excel in assault. Being forced to take an elite choice isn't a problem because our elites section is the best part of the codex.

Wargear & Powers

While most of the weapons are accumulated on the Vanilla Codex, there are special tools available to the red marines of go-fast.

Melee Weapons

• Blood Talon: Once the epitome of cheese with that fucking "extra attacks that cause more extra attacks" rule. Now they're just Power Fists with Shred instead of Unwieldy (and Blood Fists are gone). Um...it's nice, but those extra attacks were what allowed the Dreads to actually break tarpits. If only the DC Dreads at least got Rampage for their troubles...
• Encarmine Axe: A two-handed MC S+1 Power Axe. Kinda...not that great, but it's at least free for the Sanguinary Guard
• Encarmine Sword: A MC Two-Handed Power Sword. Pretty decent for stock weapons.
• Furioso Force Halberd: The weapon of the Librarian Dreads, it's a Power Fist that replaces Unwieldy with Force and loses Specialist Weapon, costing you an attack. It's still rather threatening either way.

Ranged Weapons

• Angelus-Pattern Boltgun: The guns of the Sanguinary Guard, it's a 12" S4 AP4 Storm Bolter.
• Frag Cannon: A unique weapon to the Furioso. It's an S6 AP- Template with Assault 2 and Rending, making it ideal for murderizing GEQ and having a decent chance at clearing out MEQ.

Vehicle Equipment

• Magna-Grapple: No longer a weapon, this one tool that once allowed Dreads to do the Scorpion to whatever he wants and kill now just grants Move Through Cover and allows re-rolls on the charge against Vehicles. Furiosos can replace Smoke Launchers with these, which is just as well, since you pretty much need to be in combat.
• Overcharged Engines: Makes tanks Fast. Available for purchase on the Preds, Whirlwind and Vindicator, while the Razorbacks and Rhinos have it stock.

Special Equipment

• Blood Chalice: The trademark item of the Sanguinary Priests. Gives Blood Angels +1 WS, making him only as useful as any other Apothecary for allied Marines.
• Cluster Bombs A special tool for Scout Bikers, they can booby-trap a single piece of terrain and make it Dangerous Terrain for the enemy. It's a pretty devious way of funneling a cover-camping force to your location to kill them.
• Death Mask: The trademark item of the Sanguinary Guard (and Dante, though his is special. And Sanguinor), this mask gives the wearer Fear. Being 1 point per model, it's honestly not too terrible a grab. Shame half the armies can negate it one way or another.

Relics of Baal(s)

1. Angel's Wing: 25 Point Jump Pack. The bearer and his unit may re-roll Deep Strike Scatter Dice and Mishap roll. If targeted by a unit or weapon with Interceptor, that unit only fires snapshots. Guess which army full of Interceptor we can now fuck around with?
2. Crown Angelic: 10 Points and grants the Fear USR, and Fear tests are taken at -2LD. This is one of the cheapest Relics, but it is situational.
3. Veritas Vitae: 15 Points and grants an additional Warlord Trait from the Strategic Table.
4. Gallian's Staff: A 10 Point special Force Staff. The Libby can re-roll all rolls of 1 when making a Psychic Test, but if he ever rolls another 1, he takes an unsavable wound. Kinda Grey Knights, but not by much.
5. Fury of Baal: A 25 Point master-crafted Plasma Pistol that replaces Gets Hot with MC, making it a hellishly more reliable weapon. Issue is that it costs almost twice as much as a plain jane Plasma Pistol (which can get MC to mitigate Gets Hot anyway) and packs the same amount of punch for it.
6. Valour's Edge: A 20 Point AP2 Power Sword. Only 5 more points than a regular Power Sword, it's cost is the best thing about it. Do yourself a favor and don't look at the Black Death, Fang Sword of the Ice Wolf, the Krakenbone Sword, or the Burning Blade - you'll just get sad when you compare them to the Valour's Edge.

Psychic Powers

Primaris. Quickening: WC1 Blessing that gives Fleet and +D3 to A and I to psyker or target character at 12". Pretty much the only way to get back your classic murder-rape-kill DC Dreads, or make an attached Chaplain/Captain even killier.

1. Fear of the Darkness: WC1 Malediction. Target unit at 12" takes a Morale test with -2LD. Only really helpful for clearing out room.
2. Unleash Rage: WC1 Blessing that gives a unit within 18" Rage. If they had already that rule, they get +1A instead. Aim at that DC over there. See them kill. Arm those Clawnators over there with a free attack.
3. Shield of Sanguinius: WC1 Blessing that gives the Psyker and his unit 5++ invul. You will be needing this against any AP2 or D shots.
4. Blood Boil: WC2 Focused witchfire. Target within 18" makes 2 T tests. Take one W for each failed test. If the target dies, place 5" blast with S4 and AP5 Ignores Cover.
5. Blood Lance: WC2 Witchfire. It's a 12" beam with S8 AP1 and Lance. Time to shoot tanks.
6. Wings of Sanguinius: WC2 Blessing. Targeted infantry unit within 12", Unless locked in combat, that unit may move up to 12" in the psychic phase. No charging after this movement. A unit that moves using this ability counts as moving for the purposes of shooting weapons in the shooting phase. Pretty much an ideal tool for transporting a squad out of a trap or chucking DC into position for a charge next turn.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Captain: With the new 7th edition codex, captains got the much needed love that they deserved. They now have access to artificer armor, relic blades, and most of the other fun toys that vanilla captains get. Give him a thunder hammer, storm shield, artificer armor, and the relic jump pack for a relatively cheap and effective HQ.

• Librarian: Identical to the vanilla Space Marines Librarian, though with a different discipline availability. Still has no Invulnerable save, unless you take Terminator armor or luck out with powers. Pretty much an auto-include if you don't run priest or Mephiston. You can choose to manifest powers from Sanguinary, Biomancy, Daemonology, Divination and Pyromancy, so no Telepathy for us.
  • Death Company with Endurance? Yes, please!
  • Always take the Storm Shield option if you are using Terminator armor, it's only 10 points.

• Chaplain: Pretty much the same as the vanilla Space Marines Chaplain. The Reclusiarchs are gone, and that stings. Drop him in with DC for the best results. Just remember that your DC no longer gets re-rolls to wound with chaplain. If you miss that, take Astaroth instead.

• Librarian Furioso: No. No more flying or invisible dreadnoughts for you. You can instead give yourself some crazy and who wouldn't like a Furioso with +D3 A and I, Rage, a 5++ or a an AP1 beam (though you're ML1, with option for ML2, your options do become limited)? However the other changes to the psychic phase also help a fair bit: Having a psychic "phase" means that you do not lessen your shooting if you choose to let rip with witchfire spells and having communal Warp Charges means that if you have more than one psyker (you can have quite a few in an unbound list but in a single battle-focused list, you can have 2 max plus one for every allied BA detachment) then you can focus more power on the psyker in the best position. He can only roll on the codex for WT and can replace your fist's gun with a Flamer or Melta.
  • Librarian Furioso Dreadnoughts are capable of being effective monstrous creature hunters.
  • Cast the quickening for +D3 Initiative and Attacks, then activate Force weapon, then charge for +1 Initiative if using the Baal Strike Force Detachment. Now you've got a model with Strength 10, Initiative 6, possibly 7 or 8, AP 2, Force Weapon with 4 Attacks, possibly 5 or 6.

• Sanguinary Priest: YEAH NEW FUCKING MODEL BITCHES!!!!! WAS responsible for a fair bit of Blood Angel Bitching, but now only available as an HQ and you can only take one per slot; still a fairly solid and formidable choice as far as HQs go, but you are going to need to cover your ass. Only grants the +1 WS and FNP benefits to the unit they are attached to, similar to a Painboy. This makes him rather invaluable for allies, since almost every other Imperial Force only has apothecaries in command squads though you will lose out on the +1 WS. They can have Jump Packs or bikes, but can no longer grab Termie Armor. Bullets will no longer hurt your troops, as if marines needed to become even more survivable. Enjoy your immortal demigod soldiers. Attach one to your most powerful squad and abuse Look Out Sir! but sweet FUCK - watch out for those challenge-cheesing characters and precision shots! One good swing from an Axe of Khorne, a MURDER SWORD or even a well placed meltagun/fusion blaster/fusion gun and you can kiss your cute little point sink/bullet-sponge generator goodbye!

• Techmarine: A minor chance to make a vehicle move again. Now take an HQ slot, and unlike vanilla Marines they can take Jump Packs (at the cost of their Servo-arm), so at least they can keep up with the vehicles they're supposed to repair. One-wound model, though, so they are good for little else than deep-striking with a combi-melta or attending to a Land Raider, and even then, you can find a better use for an HQ slot. However, it is also worth noting in recent FAQs the techmarine can repair vehicles while being inside of them. In other words give a techmarine his servo-harness and put him in your stormraven and laugh as you regain your hullpoints. If you take him and don't put him in the stormraven to fix it, then you doing it wrong. (It's also worth noting that Servitors are cheaper than a harness.) Unlike the Iron Priest, the BA Techie is limited to only 5 servitors to himself.

Special Characters

• Astorath the Grim: He's basically a Reclusiarch with Artificer Armour, a jump pack, and a two-handed power axe. He is initiative 1 due to that axe, so he will be the stain on the end of your opponent's commander's boot if you're not careful, but to offset that, rolling a 6 to-wound makes the wound automatic with ID. He also allows DC to re-roll to-wound on a turn where he charges and is the only source of re- rolls to-wound for DC in this edition. RIP Reclusiarch.

• The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host: Your army's special character only wishes he was half as special as this snowflake. Apparently responsible for a great deal of the Blood Angels' past victories (including killing an Avatar of Khaine, but pretty much every faction these days has someone or something killing an Avatar so meh), he's nowhere near as impressive on the tabletop. Yes, he has high Initiative and WS 8. Yes, he has an Encarmine Sword and a jump pack. Yes, he has 2+ armour, 4+ invulnerable, Furious Charge, Fearless, Eternal Warrior, and can re-roll to-hit and to-wound in challenges. Yes, he can give all units models within 6" a free attack so they can make that big assault, bolstered by the army-wide Furious Charge. However, he's still only T4 and has 3 Wounds, which means he can be shot to death by Orks, Termagants or Guardsmen. He can't take a bodyguard to back him up, since he doesn't have Independent Character. His only shooting weapons are grenades and he's only slightly cheaper than Dante. Against mediocre opponents, you can do fine hiding him behind bawkses and keeping him out of LoS of killy guns, but he's not as good as everybody thinks he is (plus an actual Avatar will probably wreck his day...eh maybe it kept rolling 1s when they fought). His model's pretty damn cool though.

• Mephiston, Lord of Death: Mephiston's changed! His Warlord trait gives him Adamantium Will, so stick him in a squad and watch as you deny witchfires and maledictions on an average of 3+ (+1 For Psyker rule, +1 for Adamantium Will, give or take 1 extra if up against ML2, +2 against ML1). He's now only WS6 but he can get his WS7 back by accompanying a Sanguinary Priest, and with S/T5 it means he can now be insta-killed by Demolisher Cannons/Railguns/Powerklaws, no need for enemies to waste Force and other ID bullshit. He has Furious Charge, Fleet and ATSKNF replacing Fearless. However, Mephiston's an Independent Character so if you're feeling threatened stick him in a Terminator Squad with Storm Shields and abuse that 2+ Look out sir! He can still roll on Biomancy to buff his stats, he has Sanguine Sword (A WC1 blessing that makes him S10) as a personal power, and he has Transfixing Gaze; Each turn Meffy's in a challenge, you roll 2D6. If you roll equal to or higher than the enemy's Ld, Mephiston hits on a 2+ like a boss. He's still a rape-train, just slightly different so he's still the Blood Angels go-to Character. Always keep him away from Mindshackle Scarabs, Force and S10 weaponry.

• Captain Erasmus Tycho: Good ol' Cap'n Tycho, a mainstay from the olden days, now lost in purpose. He has a master-crafted combi-melta that has an 18" range on the melta part and is AP4 on the bolter part. No more specialist ammunition though. He's also lost his ability to punch through tanks and armour and so has absolutely no close combat special abilities other than Digital Weapons and Hatred (Orks). He's cheap for a special character at 130 points, but an upgraded captain can potentially do much more than he can, use him with care.
  • Tycho the Lost: Tycho off his happy pills. The upgraded version of Tycho, he's still an Independent Character this time around, so no longer needs to run around solo, though he can only join Death Company squads like Lemartes. His profile is unchanged though, and now only gets the addition of Feel No Pain, Fearless and Relentless, which is not bad for an extra 15 points. Unfortunately his gear remains the same so he's stuck foot-slogging with non-jump pack Death Company.

• Brother Corbulo: Bullets no longer hurt your troops and you get one free re-roll. And this can be for any roll except deployment (though he can re-roll Seize) or game continuation. Unless he dies before you use it, at which point you kinda didn't deserve it anyway. He has a S5 Rending chainsword and grants +1 ws AND initiative to every Blood Angels unit within 6" (including himself). This doesn't stack with the WS bonus from a Blood Chalice but stacks with the initiave bonus granted from the Baal Strike Force Detachment. Did we mention that his fixed warlord trait is Speed of the Primarch? It could be kinda funny to make him your warlord, if only to see him put out 5 strenght 6 initiative 8 rending attacks on the charge. Costs as much as 2 ordinary Priests and is still vulnerable to powerfists, though, so be careful with him.

• Malakim Phoros (Forgeworld): Lamenters Chapter Master. The 2013 Forgeworld update turned him from an average character to a scary monster. He lost his ability to force enemy rerolls on successful leadership tests but instead gained the zealot special rule and also generates a 6" hatred bubble around himself, furthermore if he loses a wound he flips out and gains +1 S and A and also confers rage to himself and any unit he joins. All of this makes him very similar to a overcharged chaplain. His Inferno Pistol is now 12" range and his Glaive Encarmine grants +1 Strength on the charge. Finally, he's the ONLY Blood Angels character who has the chance to suffer /(benefit) from Red Thirst. Although nothing compared to Mephy, he's still awesome with DC in a LRC, or if you have balls of reinforced Ununoctium, a Spartan from FW. 24 Blood Crazed Maniacs + Malakim Phoros = An awful lot of dead things, also watch as your opponent's sense of Target Priority utterly EXPLODES.
  • Important RAW note - Malakim Phoros has "The Red Thirst" special rule, which when taken directly as written from the new Blood Angels codex, simply grants +1 Initiative when charging to each model in his formation, irrespective of if you have used the Baal Strike Force detachment, just by having him in the army. Now your opponent can get picky about the use of the word "Formation" rather than "detachment" or "army" but would also realize that it then shouldn't apply to the BSF in the first place since it actually isn't one according to BRB p121 and would therefore render it entirely void except for Battle Companies.

• Captain Karlaen (Deathstorm): The first taste of things to come, and things seem...underwhelming. Basic Termie Captain with an MC Thunder Hammer and Iron Halo for 160 points, which is a little bit more than a normal/vanilla captain with the same loadout, but he has Counter-Attack and Furious Charge built-in, which 5th Edition BA Captains didn't get. His Warlord Trait allows him to re-roll on Seize and gives a re-roll on Reserves at any time while he's alive, which is admittedly incredible for a DS-heavy force like the Blood Angels.

Troops

• Tactical Squad: Shooty. Better than vanilla Space Marines, because you can give them Feel no Pain (through the means of attaching a Sanguinary Priest). They are also better because they have access to heavy flamers. Tactical marines are a mighty fine addition to any mech themed army, with the chance to be deployed in fast rhinos, it means you can create a fast moving jack of all trades army. Good for grabbing objectives late on from edges of the board, whilst providing fire support and being the main bulk of your army. Their main power is in cheap special weapons, being flexible and generally being VAMPIRES IN SPESS. Shoot with your tactical marines and then charge your enemy with assault marines. They can also grab Teleport Homers like Scouts, so they can actually survive long enough to allow for a squad of Terminators to DS at any other turn (seems like they are REALLY pushing for the use of Terminators, probably to do with the new kit). 10 Tacticals in a rhino or drop pod with a heavy flamer, flamer, and 2 hand flamers. Yeah just let that sink in.

• Scout Squad: Cheap and infiltrating, just like every other Scout unit. They're not much of a combat unit despite Furious Charge with their 4+ save and WS3, furthermore their use as beacons is mostly redundant since Tactical Marines can now take Teleport Homers as well and do the same job (which only applies to units comprised entirely of Terminators - again REALLY pushing that kit aren't they?). What to do with your scouts is to provide some ranged support by equipping them with sniper rifles for 1pt each so you can try to snipe the hidden power klaws and similar threats before your marines have to engage it in melee.
  • If you want real accurate deep strike in your army you should be choosing drop pods or scout bikers instead who may take the more useful locator beacon which allows ALL deep striking units to arrive accurately.

• Raphen's Death Company (Deathstorm): 5-Man DC that's still Troops, but with a Sarge that gives +1A/Ld, a Power Sword, a Power Fist, a Thunder Hammer, and an Inferno Pistol. For about 25 more points than an equally-kitted squad the major rules advantage is that they'll get ObSec in a CAD and allow you to spend that Elites slot one one of the multitude of Blood Angels Elite units.

• Cassor the Damned (Deathstorm): 5 points more than an equally equipped DC dread gets you 'Character' and more importantly moves you to troops. Obsec DC Dread anyone? Only way to relive the DC dread as troops days of yore.

Elites

• Command Squad: It's still here, and still as debatably useful, as they will always take up a slot in one of the most bloated sections of the codex. Problem is that you're stuck with 3 Vets, the Champion, and the Sanguinary Novitiate (Why is he still here? Why can't we just grab more Sanguinary Priests?) with the options being either weapons for the vets, the Company Standard, or Jump Packs so they can at least keep up with the attached leader. 3 Grav guns in a drop pod. Do it.

• Sanguinary Guard: Blood Guard who have Blood swords and Angel wings and Angelus bolters that shoot Bloodshard shells that spill Blood for the Blood God- I mean, Emprah. All equipped with jump packs, two-handed master-crafted power weapons and 12" AP4 Storm Bolters. Comes slightly cheaper than a Terminator squad, you can take up to 10 of these guys in a squad. Put them in a squad with Dante and their deep strike dakka cc rape will even make Grey Knights jelly. One of them can carry the chapter banner, and all of them can swap out their usual gear for power fists, encarmine axes, plasma pistols, or infernus pistols, and they can take death masks, which forces a Fear test on the enemy in combat. They have 2+ armor save which means power weapons won't hurt much which just made this unit much more valuable on the field, but no invuln save at all; keep them away from plasma and AP2 or lower weapons in general. Attach a Sanguinary Priest to them for extra lulz. Cool unit, Your mileage may vary.

• Death Company: Now no longer a Troops choice, but you played Blood Angels for the sauce and this is it. If you're going to be a bitch and refuse to spend points just take an assault squad, its the cost effective choice. Unfortunately, they lost 1 WS in this edition, making your death people no better than any regular goons. Still, they have Fearless, Feel No Pain, Furious Charge, and Rage for maximum carnage on the Charge. Do not forget that they are Relentless, so give bolters to fist/claw-equipped guys for free extra shots. If you're going to use these, it's highly advisable to throw in Astorath to re-roll to-wound and an array of close combat weapons. Taken together they make Death Company the last word in terminal close encounters. A Land Raider actually makes a good transport for these guys, particularly the Land Raider Crusader; 14 blood-crazed maniacs + 1 Astaroth (jump unit=bulky=2 transport cap) + Land Raider Crusader = pretty much a guaranteed charge and a whole lot of dead things (Actually transports can't take jump infantry; only Stormravens have an exception that allows them). Another option is to give a 5 man squad jump packs (3pts/model down from 15pts) add a HQ with the relic jump pack and charge in on a Tau Gunline and laugh as they're forced to Snap Fire while you get the chance to actually charge their asses.
  • Lemartes: The resident Zen berserker maniac Chaplain of the Death Company (and sadly unlike Arjac Rockfist or Lukas the Trickster or Boss Snikrot, having a DC doesn't make him a free option), Lemmy's weapon change to a power maul in 6th Ed seems like it's nerfed him somewhat, but the moment he gets wounded he gains a +1 bonus to strength and an extra attack. With his special rule, you're looking at 5 6 Str 8 AP 4 attacks on the charge, which can be useful. However, he does not come cheaply (though he's 20 points cheaper than before), and like all Chaplains he no longer gives re-rolls to-wound. Use him only if you'll need those bonus attacks and can ensure that he won't die too fast (though FNP does help a bit)[He takes a full elites slot just for himself. ffs.].

• Death Company Dreadnought: Similar to the Furioso, but with even more raep. Can score now thanks to 7th ed, though no luck on Objective Secured. Blood Talons are the go-to choice here allowing your DC dread to maximize the damage done from landing all those attacks. If you wanted anti-tank consider a Furioso or something else instead.

• Dreadnought: Blood Angels love Dreadnoughts, and you should too. The assault cannon is probably the most cost-effective shooting weapon available to them, and replacing the standard storm bolter with a heavy flamer can't hurt either. You can kit them out for tank-hunting, but other units can easily fill that role, too. They're no slouches in melee either (unless you were a fool and swapped the DCCW for a missile launcher) but it can't compare to the Furioso pattern when it comes to well and truly fucking something's shit up. Instead, try doubling up on TLACs for long-range support - there's a reason as to why rifleman dreadnoughts suddenly proliferated many a Space Marine list.

• Furioso Dreadnought: A WS5, 13/12/10 Dreadnought. Work best in pairs and trips and come with loads of options, including the new and... well, different Blood Talons (see above). Basically, they're now the choice for dealing with those 2+ armor saves, but they might actually be better on a DC dread because they have more attacks; it's more of a tradeoff now - do you want more survivability and utility or do you want to deal more damage? AV13+ vehicles will instead require you to retain your fists and that meltagun, whereas slogging through terrain befits a Frag Cannon and Magna Grapple (which has also changed a bit).

• Contemptor Furioso Dreadnought (Forgeworld): Exactly what it says on the tin, which is to say it gives you everything you love/hate about Furiosos in a Contemptor's package. Benefits include Atomantic Shielding, 13/12/11 armour (thus making it impervious to units that only get S4 in melee), fleet, S7, WS5, Red Thirst, two DCW's with storm bolters - and that's just to start! You get the option for both contemptor fun (trading a DCW for Kheres Assault Cannon, Heavy Conversion Beamer, other dread guns, Chainfist, etc) and Blood Angel goodies (Blood Talons, upgrading a storm bolter to a meltagun to break people out of their metal bawkses, the Frag Cannon arm replacement, and the chassis-mounted Magna Grapple). There's not much of a reason to take Blood Talons on CFD unless you know you're facing lots of 2+ saves, otherwise anything else is better.

• Terminator Squad: They're Terminators, what's not to like? Use them just like you would vanilla Terminators, there's not much of a difference. Heavy Flamers are cheap and ignore cover, and Assault Cannons and Cyclone Missile Launchers ensure long-range carnage. Remember to bring at least one Chainfist, and a Sanguinary Priest couldn't hurt either (but he needs to be kept in the back of the party because he can't take Termie armor anymore). If you're fighting 'Nids, reminisce about the good old days of Space Hulk.
  • Squad Alphaeus (Deathstorm): A Termie Squad with a Chainfist and Heavy Flamer. For about 5 points more than a normal squad with the same loadout, you get PE (Tyranids) while the Sarge is still alive and no Combat Squad because the squad is fixed at five models.

• Terminator Assault Squad: A bunch of guys with Lightning Claws, upgradable to TH/SS for 5 each with fancy new models. If you use Claws, stick a Sanguinary Priest with them like everything else (though keep him hidden. Losing Termie Armor makes him a vulnerability). The gap between S4 > S5 is more valuable than S8 > S9 unless you are fighting against AV13-14 vehicles or monstrous creatures (but Assault squads with Meltabombs or regular terminator squads can deal with those effectively anyway). The 3++ is preferred only if you expect to be facing a lot of AP2/1 weaponry such as melta/powerfist spam, but ready access to FnP mitigates against plasma/axes slightly, so consider what your opponent is bringing. Also they got a new Blood Angels specific pack which costs the same as Dark Angels Deathwing Terminators.
  • It is absolutely necessary that you take a Land Raider to ensure they make the long trip to the enemy. They benefit greatly from a buffer unit like a Sanguinary Priest (a squad 2+ armour saves, 3+ invul. saves with Feel no Pain? Yes please) or a Librarian (In case you needed yet another sledgehammer in your squad). Bottom line: great CC squad, but they can become really expensive, really soon.
  • One member may take a Company Banner and there is no limit on the number of squads that can take it, but don't go thinking you can Troll Deathwing players by having Banners all over the place, they guy holding it has to replace a Lightning Claw or Storm Shield (depending on your loadout), thereby reducing his overall effectiveness, but all it does is allow BA units within 12" to re-roll on morale/pinning and nothing else. It's only a 5 point upgrade so only take if you tend to have problems with morale-checks.

• Sternguard Veteran Squad: Yep, they're back. Yep, they're still awesome. Dakka, dakka, dakka. Just keep 'em away from tanks and high-armor units, unless you remembered to bring some combi-meltas/plasmas. Not as useful for Blood Angels, with the amount of anti-infantry and meltaguns they usually possess, but still a fine buy. 10 pts cheaper compared to vanilla marines.

• Vanguard Veteran Squad: Got a nice 20 cut from their cost, but are now shoved into the crowded Elites Slot. Since there's no special DS rules, you now need to buy jump packs for this squad. Since assaulting after arrival is a dead thing this edition, these guys get the consolation prize of ignoring the penalties for Disorganized Charges and can automatically pass Heroic Intervention. Which is a savage anal raping, FOR YOU. Be careful not to go overboard on the wargear; they WILL draw fire, and they can get very expensive, very fast. The best use is tank hunting or killing shooting units so pack them with a Thunder Hammer or Power/Chainfist. So your enemy's units like a predator or dev squad will be bounded in close combat with your vets when other parts of your army get close to fuck your enemy and your metal boxes will be in safety from big guns.

Fast Attack

• Assault Squad: The days of Assault Troops are no more. Up yours, GW. You can always take multiple detachments, or the Flesh Tearers Detachment. Also, they still can score without obj. secured. They can be tooled any number of ways and most of them are deadly. Small squads with up to 2 Meltas, Plasma/Inferno pistols, of flamers and a FAST razorback with Lascannon and TL Plasma, or a large 10-man squad, either flying, in a free drop pod or in a free Rhino. In a competitive meta, the 10 fly guys are the way to go, as a transport may get lased to death as it steps out and you do NOT want these guys foot slogging. Can't take Razorbacks anymore smh. However if you take a Rhino and 5 men you are paying 8 points for mini, turning them in the cheapest marines of all the game. I'm going to repeat it: a marine for only 8 points! It's a pity you can only take 3 such squads, but if you are playing unbound, go crazy and take 70 marines, 14 fast rhinos and 28 meltaguns for only 1470 points. The only problem of such army is the expected traffic jam.

• Land Speeder Squadron: Basically the damn same as the Land Speeders in the Space Marine codex. If you run one, run two, same as other vehicles. The key feature of these fuckers is that you can speed 'em around the field fast enough that they always get their 4+ cover save from moving flat out. If you're lucky, you can get people to waste a turn or two shooting at these while your real vehicles are getting shit done unimpeded. Of course, if your enemy ignores them, then you probably get a chance to pop something with your Multi-meltas, so you might win either way.

• Attack Bike Squad: 1-3 Bikes with heavy weapons. Give them Multi-Meltas and go tank hunting. Other units can handle anti-infantry roles, such as the Baal Predator.

• Bike Squad: Blood Angels aren't as good as vanilla Marines are with bikers (open to debate), if only because they lack the ability to take bikes as Troops (although they can still score). Still, they can prove to be useful as skirmishers as long as you don't let them get bogged down in an assault. Take a meltagun and/or a plasma gun to kill shit faster (they can take grav as well). There's also a build, known as Blood Rodeo, in which ASM and Bikes are used together. FNP and FC bikes? Yes please. Sanguinary Priest with bikes, +1 WS, +1 I, FNP, max the unit, kit out the Vsgt for a killy assault unit that is also incredibly survivable.

• Scout Bike Squad: More fragile than standard Bikers, have WS/BS 3, and can't take meltas/flamers/plasma guns; instead, all they can do is replace their bikes' boltguns with rapid-firing grenade launchers. However, they can Infiltrate and Scout, and thanks to their Sergeant, an Infiltrating Power Fist on a bike is nothing to sniff at. They can also take Locator Beacons, to help put that deep-striking Jump Pack squad of doom where you want it at, and Cluster Bombs, which make a piece of terrain DT for enemies. Just don't bring them into open conflict.

Heavy Support

• Baal Predator: The Blood Angels' unique Predator with FAST, armed with a twin-linked Assault Cannon. Can take Heavy Bolter or Heavy Flamer sponsons, or replace the Assault Cannon with a Flamestorm cannon, the S6 AP3 flamer found on the Land Raider Redeemer. It's fast, it ruins infantry's day, it will likely draw a lot of fire to stop it from killing their troops.

• Stormraven Gunship: Basically, a flying Land Raider. This ugly flying brick is now available to vanilla Marines and Black Templars, no more Blood Angels/Grey Knights only for no adequately explained reason. Go figure. It costs 200 points base, has AV12 all around, and meltaguns don't get the extra D6 for AP when shooting at them. It's also bristling with guns; it has a twin-linked heavy bolter, a twin-linked assault cannon, and four Stormstrike missiles (72" S8 AP2, Concussive, one shot each), and that's only standard issue. It can replace the heavy bolters with a twin-linked multimelta for free or a Typhoon missile launcher for 25 points, and replace the assault cannon with a twin-linked plasma cannon or a twin-linked lascannon for free. And if that's not enough dakka for you, it can take hurricane bolters in side sponsons. It can't deep strike, but it can take a locator beacon. (So you could use it as a highly mobile beacon for a jump squad or termies.) The real gravy comes with its transport capacity; it can carry 12 guys in power armor (or 6 Jump Infantry/Terminators) AND one Dreadnought. Watch your opponent cry tears of bitter rage as your Death Company comes out of fucking nowhere to ruin his day because it's an Assault Vehicle. It'll cost you an arm and a leg, but you certainly get what you pay for.

• Predator: Marginally more useful than the vanilla Predator, since you can pay 10 points to make it fast, Meaning it can move further and fire more guns at once. The Baal Predator is better than the Destructor against infantry (Compare S7 AP4 Heavy 2 to twin-linked S6 AP4 Heavy 4, Rending); use the Annihilator variant to hunt tanks and Monstrous Creatures instead.

• Devastator Squad: They're just like the vanilla Marines' Devastators, only with the FC. Great with 4 missile launchers - a cheap and universal squad with a lot of firepower. Carry around a priest to babysit them. Park them in cover. Perfect for shooty army-list.

• Vindicator: It's a massive gun strapped to a Rhino. Imperial Guard wished they had something this awesome *coughcough*Thunderers*coughcough*. Even if the gun gets blown off (likely, considering the amount of fire this thing will draw), you can go all-out and ram your target instead for massive damage. Just bear in mind that your choice of targets will be limited once the rest of your army gets into melee, and no-one likes scattering S10 AP2 "friendly fire" pie-plates. Except maybe your opponent.

• Whirlwind: The Fast engine can actually help Whirlwinds out if they get too close to enemies; just zip off to somewhere safe for you to rain fiery death down upon them. But, as it's strictly anti-infantry, you're forced to let someone else take down tanks and the like. You have to buy fast now, but the need for it is really minor.

• Land Raider/Crusader/Redeemer: Pretty much the same as the vanilla counterparts: normal Land Raider is schizo, Crusader is God-tier for Terminator transport, Redeemer fucks infantry's shit up. Use one for heavily-armored delivery. Now they are no longer dedicated transports for anyone and they can no longer deep-strike - not that you should have, but this is most certainly GW listening to their audience and scrubbing Matt Ward's baleful influence from the game that it once had.

Lords of War

As with the Space Wolves and Grey Knights 7th Edition Updates, Commander Dante and Chapter Master Seth have been moved to Lord of War slots in same fashion asLogan Grimnar and Kaldor Draigo.

• Commander Dante: Pretty damned powerful for a Chapter Master, with a jump pack, inferno pistol (Melta in pistol form), and a Power Axe (great for Hit and Run). He can deal with pretty much any kind of enemy in the game with a decent chance of winning. As of the 7th edition update he now has his much needed Eternal Warrior. Throw him at S8-10 weapons if you're feeling gutsy, and now that melee weapons have AP values his artificer armour lets him laugh at power swords. His WT reduces the scatter distance of the unit he's with, so pair him with a Honour Guard unit with multiple meltaguns to kill a tank and threaten its contents the next turn, or deliver some other killy unit with precision. Take him and Mephiston for extra lulz. Also as of 7th Edition his axe is now S+2 AP2 and strikes at his stupidly high initiative.
  • If you run Maelstrom with Dante as warlord, you also get to roll on the Tactical Traits table. Joy.
  • You'd think Dante would be the king of Planetstrike games (still a thing in 7th Edition from Sanctus Reach), but the Planetstrike Attacker/Defender detachments do not allow Lords of War slots so he's out unless you use some other form of FOC.

• Chapter Master Gabriel Seth: The incredibly badass Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers. Doesn't have a power weapon, but his huge chain sword, Blood Reaver, hits at Strength 8 (in Initiative order, even!) and has Rending. His other feature is the ability to make another hit on a to-hit roll of 6 (With the likelihood that these bonus hits can make wounds that make more attacks) (this skill works more like necron tesla, so no additional attacks like old blood talons). Also, he's low priced at 155 points, has 4 attacks base, and is Fearless by default to boot. The downside is that he doesn't buff your army in any way (other than granting Fearless to the squad he's in), so take stick an HQ with him to make him and the army more effective. While not quite amazing, as a pure combat character, Gabe is pretty far from a bad buy get him into combat with a decent squad, then: 'Watch the Magic happen...'

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino: Looks like the Orks were right after all: The red ones DO go faster. Costs 10 more points than a vanilla Rhino (45 compared to 35) but is now a Fast vehicle, making them absurdly useful. Take one for as many infantry units as you can.
• Razorback: It's fast. It has a big gun on top. Use it in conjunction with Sternguard or your hero unit + Sanguinary Guard/Command Squad. Take the las/plas turret if you can spare the points, since you can move 12" speed and fire both guns.
• Drop Pod: Perfect for putting Dreadnoughts where they need to be. A great platform for Tactical squads with flamer setup, or ASM with 2 meltas and 2 inferno pistols.

Supplements

Shield of Baal: Exterminatus

Not really a full supplement, but contains more than enough in it to count, new formations should be discussed in the formations section, leaving the other rules and benefits in here.

Archangels

This is essentially the First Company of the Blood Angels as an army. This means lots of Termies and Vets, as the FOC shows.

Archangels Warlord Traits

1. Grim Determination: Warlord is Fearless - not so great if your warlord is a chaplain, where it's already there.
2. Aggressive Defence: Warlord and his unit have Counter-Attack, which isn't bad so you can react to whatever charges.
3. Blood Champion: Re-roll to-hit in a challenge. It's not bad, and most of your HQs can do okay with it.
4. Master of the Field: Warlord and his unit get Objective Secured. AWESOME. Stick with a squad with Cyclones.
5. Lord of Baal: Units within 12" may re-roll failed morale checks, pretty much exactly the same as a normal standard bearer. At least it sorta saves cash from spending it on the new relic banner.
6. Angel of Death: Grab Preferred Enemy. Good take.

Archangels Strike Force

This detachment's fluff is meant to depict the entire First Company, and what better way to portray that by only allowing 2 HQ and 16. ELITES. SLOTS. Yeah, 16 elites slots, 10 reserved for Termies and Vets, while the other 6 are for Dreadnoughts (sadly no Libby Dreads, so that Dread Army with Bjorn and MURDERFANG THE MURDERBORN will have to wait), and the HQs need to be Termies. Using it brings back the classic d6" deep strike scatter on ALL units (not just Jump Infantry like with Descent of Angels), re-rolls on failed reserves and a re-roll on the new Archangels Warlord Traits Table.

• The reduced scatter distance would stack with the Descent of Angels warlord trait for perfectly accurate deep striking for Jump Infantry in the detachment, especially since you may "choose" to roll on the new traits, rather than being forced to. But your FOC re-roll only applies to the Archangels traits.

Relics of the Archangels

Note, that these relics are taken in addition to the Relics of Baal, rather than replacing them.

1. Banner of the Archangel Host: Terminator Assault squad banner. Same rules as any other by granting morale re-rolls, but also grants Preferred Enemy to the unit, makes for a cheap pseudo-chaplain.
2. Archangels Edge: A terminator-sergeant relic, which limits the utility only slightly. But for only 5 points more than the Sergeant's Power Sword you can Instant Death MC's on a 6 to-wound.
3. Executioner's Hood: Psyker can now ignore Shadow in the Warp. Extremely situational, but great to rub it in to the crying Tyranid player that when you perils you use your unmodified kickass Ld to test.

Flesh Tearers

Warlord Traits

1. Incandescent Fury: Warlord and unit get Hatred - Chaplains can already do this, so make sure you take advantage of that WT re-roll if you use the FTSF Detachment.
2. Savage Rage: Get Rampage, making them kinda better against mobs.
3. Avalanche of Destruction: Warlord and unit have HoW, for added charging hilarity.
4. Unstoppable Momentum: All units within 12" have Crusaders USR, good against everything but loyalist marines with the added sweeping advance bonus.
5. Berserk Frenzy: Warlord and unit get Rage USR, which is...alright. You're at least not completely forced into making really long charges.
6. Blood Frenzy: Feel No Pain. On the plus side, your priest now gets 4+ FNP.

Flesh Tearers Strike Force

The normal FOC, but with two of the troops slots (and one compulsory one) removed and THREE added to fast attack. For this you get the customary re-roll on Flesh Tearers warlord traits but also any unit in the detachment that rolls greater than a 10 on charge distances gets the Rage USR. A nice grab, but really good for all those Fast slots, Assault Squad spam has returned!

Relics of Cretacia

Note, that these relics are taken in addition to the Relics of Baal, rather than replacing them. On the plus side, they're incredibly cheap, like 5-15 points cheap.

1. Bones of Baelsor: Dreadnought upgrade that works like extra armour, with the added bit that any Tyranid bio-plasma weapons or Venom cannons don't penetrate the hull but only count as glances. Nice. Charge a Carnifex.
2. Slayer's Wrath: Flesh Tearers Bolter that replaces a Boltgun OR a Bolt Pistol. 24" range rapid fire, with master-crafted & poisoned (2+). Not too shabby. Honestly though you might just be better off with a plasma pistol on anything with limited amounts of MC.
3. Shield of Cretacia: Regular old Power Armour that makes them immune to the poisoned rule, which means enemies have to wound on strength which for many poisoned weapons is 1 or nothing. Good for trolling Dark Eldar. Cheap as chips too at only a 5 point upgrade.

Formations

• Blood Angels Battle Company - Captain and Chaplain, Command Squad, 6 Tac Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 1 DC, and a Dread of the standard & Furioso Patterns. You not only get the Re-roll of WT and the +1 I on all charges, but you also shockingly get Objective Secured for the Tac Squads. Imagine the look of those yiffs' faces when you run this and get ObSec.

• Strike Force Deathstorm (Deathstorm) - Put the Deathstorm Blood Angels units together. Aside from everything else, you get Fearless (Or Counter-Attack for the DC since they have Fearless already) and once per game, Karlaen can allow everyone to re-roll to-wound one assault phase. Helpful for the rape train of DC, but...they seem to be the least astounding of the pack.

• Space Marine Company (Apocalypse) - A Captain, Chaplain, Command Squad with Standard, and trio of Dreads have a choice. If they're from a battle company, they must have 6 Tac squads, 2 Assault Squads, and 2 Devastator Squads. If they're from a reserve company, they must have all 10 squads be of one type of the three. All squads must have 10 men.
  • A fluffy formation that really works depending on how you kit them out. No matter what, they get an Orbital Strike Strategic Asset and Counter-Attack. If they're within 12" of an objective, they get Stubborn. If someone charges an infantry unit of this formation within 12" of them, they get the Tau Supporting Fire rule once per assault phase.

• Librarius (Apocalypse) - 5 Librarians or Rune Priests. If you want, you can replace one of them with Mephiston, making them all Blood Angels.
  • These Librarians form a Warp Charge 4 (!!) power called Force Vortex, a 24" S:D AP1 Heavy 1, Large Blast Vortex. IF they don't recall it before it moves, then it'll scatter off and kill everyone. Before you run with this ask yourself: How confident am I that this won't kill absolutely everything?

• Masters of the Chapter (Apocalypse) - A Chapter Master can take an optional Honour Guard squad along his 4-10 Captains of the same chapter. Any of them can be replaced with a named Character where fitting.
  • This is not an assault force; it's too small for that. What it can do, though, is give you 3 additional assets on the first break and give them a 3++ on the turn they use their Finest Hour/Sons of the Primarch ability.

• The Black Rage (Apocalypse) - Astorath grabs 1+ Chaplains, 3+ Death Company squads (with one holding Lemartes) and 2-4 Death Company Dreads. They can also get DC Tycho as well.
  • This is a straight-up murder squad. Their biggest boost is a bonus to their charge equal to the number of turns it is from turn 2 onwards. Things will DIE here.

• Lucifer Armoured Task Force (Apocalypse) - Tycho, an Honour Guard, and 3 Tac Squads get 2 Predators, 2 Baal Predators, and 4 Land Raiders of any sort.
  • The Land Raiders get Fast and Scout in exchange for a Hull-Point, so make sure you keep a good eye on them and their health while transporting the teams where they need to be. Other than that, they're the same as normal.

• Wings of Sanguinius (Apocalypse) - JETPACKS FOR EVERYONE! A Captain and a Chaplain get 10 Assault Squads of 10 and a choice of either an Honour Guard or Sanguinary Guard. Oh, and optional Sanguinor.
  • Since everyone's a jump unit, they all get Deep Strike and Descent of Angels, with the option to Deep Strike at ANY TIME THEY WANT. THE SHIT. They also all get Shrouded the turn they Deep Strike.

Shield of Baal: Exterminatus

• Blooded Demi-Company - Half a company: only 3 Tacs, 1 Assault, 1 Devastator, 1 regular Dreadnought and one Captain OR Chaplain. You also get a Command squad if you took a Captain, or a Furioso Dreadnought if you took a Chaplain. You don't get Obsec unfortunately, but you do get The Red Thirst (aka +1 Initiative), but basically if you're playing this you've built yourself the beginnings of an army right there so you might as well be using a normal FOC anyway since you can add more stuff to it.

• Archangels Orbital Intervention Force - Three Terminator squads (any type, any combination), when the formation arrives via deep strike they may run & shoot in the assault phase. A bit of a lack-luster attempt at pushing the new Terminator kits, especially since the Archangels FOC is so much better for deep striking terminators.

• Archangels Sanguine Wing - 2 x 10-man Vanguard squads (MUST have jump packs) and a 10-man Sternguard squad transported inside a Stormraven. They arrive together from reserve on a single roll, and you get a free single Power Weapon/Lightning Claw per model for the Vanguard Vets and a free Storm Bolter/Combi-Weapon per model for the Sternguard. Thats it, basically this saved you a few points on stuff you could do anyway. Actually, this can save you a whole ton of points (400) if you kit your squads out and makes them a whole lot more cost efficient, although the actual use of this formation is questionable.

• The Archangels - basically the Archangels FOC when it's almost completely filled up. You need 10 veteran/terminator squads (in any combination), a Terminator Captain (or Karlaen) a Terminator Chaplain and four Furioso Dreadnoughts. Doing this via the Archangels FOC would have left you two slots, but this is better, if a bit more demanding since you can't take anything less. You not only get the reduced deep strike scatter and re-roll reserves bonus, but your company also is Stubborn and units from it may be rolled from reserve on the first turn!

• Archangels Demi-Company - Half of the First company, only five squads and two dreadnoughts. Same as above but lose the ability to start rolling for reserves on the first turn.

• Strike Force Mortalis - Three squads of death company, 2 DC dreadnoughts, 1 Chaplain & 1 Stormraven. They all have Crusader and they all get Rampage-lite, where if they don't already have Rampage they get +1 attack if outnumbered by the enemy. Can be an impressive boost to already killy DC squads.

• Dante's Avenging Host - Take a regular Blooded Demi-Company (so 5/6 squads and 1/2 dreadnoughts), mix in a pinch of Sanguinary Guard, one Sanguinary Priest, a single Librarian AS WELL as Mephiston, three Stormraven Gunships for luck and finish off with Dante on top. Your Demi-Company still has The Red-Thirst, but all non-vehicle units in the formation also gain Objective Secured AND the reduced Deep Strike scatter and the ability to re-roll failed reserves from Storm of Angels rule that the Archangels usually get. Essentially this is a slightly less model intensive alternative to a full battle company and combines the best rules of both except that only the redshirts get The Red Thirst.
  • Also remember that as Warlord, Dante has Descent of Angels, which would further reduce the deep-strike scatter distance of Jump Infantry by another d6", meaning exact precision, but only for Jump Infantry since Descent of Angels doesn't apply to anything else in this formation (like drop pods), where the Storm of Angels rule does.

• Flesh Tearers Vanguard Strike Force - 3 Tac squads, 1 Assault squad a Furioso Dreadnought and a Vanguard squad to finish it off. They all get The Red Thirst, but whilst the Vanguard squad is still on table, everybody has Stubborn and may ignore any penalties for disordered charges, which does pretty well for the Assaults.

• Lysios Relief Force - Gabriel Seth, Tactical Squad, Vanguard Squad, Stormraven, 1 normal & 1 Baal Predator. They all get Crusader and must begin the game embarked on a transport (not a drop pod) if not already jump infantry. They all arrive as one roll on reserves. Not that impressive, but an easy formation to put together as an allied force.

• Defenders of the Cathedrum - Another simple one to put together, Terminators, Death Company, Assault Squad, 2 Tacticals and a Furioso. They get Counter-Attack and Stubborn, nothing fancy, but does the job in offense or defense.

• Strike Force Razorwind - Take the Lysios Relief Force, and combine it with the Defenders of the Cathedrum and you get this, each sub-formation keeps its own special rules, but in addition everyone within 12" of Seth is Fearless and you may roll for your reserves on turn one.

Building your Army

The Blood Angels battleforce has been released. Start with that. Then start filling in your base. Get yourself an HQ model and another Space Marine squad.

Here's an in depth look, a little spammy, but a nice starting point you can add flavor to!

Get librarian and sang for your HQ.

BA are a pretty good mech list, with all the tanks being fast, so get a predator(s) with autocannon on top, and lascannons on the side. (for the maximum price efficiency)

Also with the buff to fliers- add a stormraven. (I know they cost a lot, but it helps) Throw a Furioso dread in that, and add a nice hammer unit. (Though don't waste too many points)

pretty balanced base start with and add on to

If you go a DC list, IG allies are a fine buy, because they provide you with infantry platoon - a reliable scoring unit.

Allies

Battle Brothers

• Adepta Sororitas: Why? All the good units they have to offer are the Priests and Jacobus (Much cheaper and better than chaplains for War Hymns to potentially give your Death Company rerolls on wounds and any saves), you already have fucktons of flamers and meltas while your tac marines can do the same as normal bolter babes with +1 S/T.
• Black Templars: Coming soon. rolled into regular marine 'dex. Why the fuck would you take two assaulting armies as allies anyway?
• Dark Angels: - A very good combo with Blood Angels, as they are the more shooty and resolute marines compared to your own quick moving, melee marines. You can also perform really good alpha-strikes with lots of turn 1 Deathwing deep strike (particularly with Belial) and are one of the few other Space Marine chapters with access to divination, while this is no longer the go-to discipline as it was in 6th edition it combos especially well with Mephiston if he's already on biomancy steroids and will force your opponent to make panic induced mistakes.
• Grey Knights: It's just repeated deep-striking and a massive points sink. It's purely redundant like the Black Templars from Codex Space Marines.
• Imperial Guard: Excellent fire support for a up-in-your face army. A neat little army list is a CCS in a chimera (so he doesn't die if the enemy sniffs at him), a veteran squad with camo behind an ADL w/quad gun (or an infantry platoon if you have the points), and a few leman russes. All the fire support you'll ever need. So for a CCS in a chimera, Camo veterans, and ADL w/quad gun and a Leman Russ, this all costs only 445 points (a little more or less depending on the Leman Russ variant and if you take upgrades for your Veterans or if you take an infantry platoon. With an ADL, the chimera isn't a necessity anyway). Alternatively, you could take them as meat shield distractions. But it's mainly recommended that you use them as long range fire support/ objective campers. Priests are highly welcome here to make sure that blob of Guardsmen can never die.
• Inquisition: Servo-Skulls and Mystics work really nice with your deep-striking units. Inquisitors also have hilarious shit like the Conversion Beamer (small blast that gets stronger the farther the target is from the Inquisitor holding it) and the Psyocculum which gives your units BS10 when shooting at units containing Psykers and Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers. Death Company got the assault gear, Inquisition lays down a shooty advance. You can take Crusaders to suck up heavy weaponry and Power Weapons with their storm shields, so they are awesome meatshields too. Always a good choice.
• Space Marines: Pretty nice alpha strike potential here if you throw in Vulkan He'Stan.
• Space Wolves: Long Fangs for epic long range shooting prowess, and Rune Priests. But Mephiston can do it better. Space Wolves with Counter-Attack make fantastic defensive allies to hold the line while Blood Angels go out and rip and tear.
• Imperial Knights:' Nothing much to say but yes! Big scary, fast Super-heavies to give your target too many things to shoot at in too little time.

Allies of Convenience

• Eldar: this army has the advantage of actually being able to keep up with you, but you might find that there to be a lot of overlap within the two codxes, that being said they are really quite a bit less durable than your standard troops, so just think carefully about whether or not you just want more Blood Angels. One thing the Eldar do bring, though, is the ability to defeat heavy armor - Wraithguard and Fire Dragons are the bane of anything without strong cover or invuln saves (WG a little better against MCs, FD a bit better on vehicles), plus all shuriken weapons have quasi-rending. Might be useful if you're having trouble chewing through big or heavily armored foes fast enough. On the flipside, you now get grav-guns. Consider using some.

Desperate Alllies

• Tau Empire: If all else fails, use them in the same fashion as Guardsmen. Rail guns and other devastating long-range shooting, but you must always remember One Eye Open. Crisis, Stealth and Riptide battlesuits are better for close-in support, and fast enough to both keep up and stay out of OEO trouble range. Riptides also have the advantage of being good anti-air and not entirely helpless in melee.
• Dark Eldar: Their speed is good, but you're also within OEO range often so that sucks! They also are an in your face army with lots of scary close range shooting.

Come the Apocalypse

• Necrons: Coming soon.
• Orks: Well...I guess it can work? The fact is, One Eye Open stings like a bitch so big Ork hordes necessitate Deep-striking. Also OEO doesn't apply to units locked in combat already. That's an advantage.
• Tyranids: Look at Orks pretty much. Also, the new Tyrannocyte Spores provide deep-strike synergy with 'Nids so OEO doesn't sting so bad.
• Chaos Space Marines: You can do assaults better, why the hell would you take this when your main army can do all that without allying at CtA levels? Pass! Just take Loyalist Marines!
• Chaos Daemons: Coming soon.

Tactics

AWAITING REMAKE AS THE NEW CODEX DROPS LIVE

You have an army made for one purpose, and one purpose only. Motherfucking BLITZKRIEG!!! If there was any other army more adept at using this Nazi tactic it would overrape everything. Blood angels are the certified masters of BLITZKRIEG!!! I mean look at what they have in their army list. Watch with glee as your opponent cry out in horror as your army crosses half the boardlength in the first turn (sort of. this fast vehicle FAQ may have taken away my will to live). Second, your troops are utterly focused on getting close as fast as humanly possible to the enemy and obliterating them at close-range and/or in CQC. Third, you have the best conditions for deep striking of all the armies in the galaxy All jump infantry can deep strike and use only one die for scatter by with the proper WT (or Dante)). Use deepstriking Dreadnoughts in drop pods, combine it with fast flying Stormravens carrying a ten-man assault squads joined by a Sanguinary Priest and Vindicators on the ground lobbing S: 10 large-blast templates of annihilation all over the table. Combine all this with the units mentioned above, along with their aforementioned tactics and you will basically bring all your opponents to their knees crying bitter tears of rage and frustration after you stand victorious at the end of turn 2.

Do not charge your Death Company into a Terminator squad, no matter what you may think will happen. Especially do not do this if you're playing against Space Wolves, Terminator Wolf Lords will eat your DCs alive without breaking a sweat. I want whatever this guy was having. Srsly. Death company is still the last word in CQC. counter-attack/TEQ's are cute but a fully tricked out Death Company will turn them into a fine red paste in one turn.

Always use Furiosos with Blood Talons in a Drop Pod. Trust me, they're bound to screw up your opponent's strategy.

Sanguinary Priests are your friends, especially for allied armies. Since most armies only have FNP distributed either in a command squad (aside from Wolf Priests), you'll be better off taking one to assist a team you'll expect to take a lot of fire.

Though BA are powerful in close combat, they are nice in shooting with their 4bs. Concentrate firepower on one target and fuck it up. Then choose other target. Libby with shield or Biomancy for Endurance is fine too. Mephy or Furioso can be taken as counter-charge. Melta or plasma honour guards are always good. Missile Devs are universal unit in Heavy Support and Autocannon-Lascannon Predators are nice for fucking heavy units up. Baal Preds ruin infantry's day. Melta-Attack Bikes or Land Speeders are your mobile anti-tank units.

Now you can take 10-man squads of assault marines with 2 meltas in FREE BAWKSES. They are FA now though so go fill your troops with all that's left. 10-man Tactical Squads with flamer/heavy flamer in Rhinos compliment the above well for a comparable points cost, and they're capable of annihilating hordes. Mechanised tactical and assault marines is a surprisingly competitive list.

Tactical Objectives

11 - Valor of Angels

+1 VP for issuing a challenge. EASY MONEY.

12 - Aerial Assault

+1 VP if you have a Jump/Skimmer/Flyer unit destroy an enemy unit. +1d3 VP if the unit that did the killing arrived from reserves on the same turn.

13 - Purity Through Bloodshed

+1 VP if you killed a unit in Assault. +1d3 if 3-5 units die. +1d3+3 if you killed more than 6 units in Assault.

14 - Decapitating Strike

+1 VP if you killed the Warlord on this or any prior turn. Nice.

15 - Swift Advance

Draw the card, opponent chooses two objective you must hold. Win 1 VP if you control one of them at the end of your turn, win 1d3 if you secure both.

16 - Noble Self-Sacrifice

In order to better imitate their Primarch, you win 1 VP if your Warlord dies during your assault phase. However, if you ever refuse a challenge, this goes away.

Planetstrike Tactics

Some people might have forgotten that this is still a thing, but that 7th edition rules came in Sanctus Reach. Admittedly, this will not apply to the majority of gamers who choose not to play planetstrike, but is worth a strong mention since Blood Angels can play very differently in these missions.

As before, Planetstrike attackers that focus heavily on deep striking units get the extreme advantage of being able to charge after arriving, allowing you to capitalize on the Blood Angels focus on veteran jump troops. The Angels Wing relic also does impressively here too and should be considered a must.

Not only that, but players who choose to use the planetstrike attacker detachment have only a compulsory HQ slot to fill, and get six Elite & Fast Attack slots to use up which more than compensates for the codex moving things like Death Company & Assault squads away from Troops; meaning those 5th/6th edition players who bemoan not being able to play entire jump forces (or never had Tactical/Scout squads) still have an avenue of using their army.

However, using this detachment causes its own share of problems; you only get the re-rollable warlord trait on Planetstrike traits, not any other. Meaning you only ever get Descent of Angels (the trait that would DOMINATE planetstrike, not just with reduced scatter but with re-rolling jump reserves too) once in every six games. Dante is a bust with this detachment too since there are no Lords of War - so if you want him you have to go Combined Arms, or Baal Strike Force, which loses you all those extra slots and slaps on the Troops tax.

If you go with the Combined arms or Baal Strike Force detachments in Planetstrike, use those compulsory slots on tactical squads in drop pods and give them locator beacons and land them first using the Drop Pod Assault rules. Then on the following turns bring down the angels unerringly, granting them the immediate charge (with +1 Initiative in BSForce).